More Than Just Research
by iheartLink
Summary: Lately, Robin keeps making an excuse to go to his room. He says he's been training. But when Beast Boy convinces the other team members to join in his April Fool's prank, they're in for a bigger surprise.


**I had way too much fun writing this. Hehe... Probably because it has to do with April Fool's Day, and it's not even April yet! XD But since I couldn't wait to post it, I decided to give it to you now. Think of it as an early...Easter gift. So...happy early April Fool's Day? **

**More Than Just Research **

It was just another night. Just like any night, really. For Robin, that was. With his undeniably obssessive training sessions.

"I've got some more work to do. You guys watch the movie without me," Robin resorted to his usual excuse. His friends were getting worried. For the past week, Robin had distanced himself from the team. Whenever the rest of the team settled down to spend together-ly time with each other, Robin would do this. Robin shouldn't be overworking himself.

The titans needed a way to convince him.

Almost all the other titans looked around awkwardly, re-writing the plan in their heads. They knew this was going to happen but...

Beast Boy spoke up first. "Come on! It's Kaiko's Revenge! You can't miss out on this! It's the awesomest movie ever!"

Cyborg spoke up second. "Yeah, man, why are you always going to your room? It's barely eight o' clock."

Starfire flew in front of Robin, clasping her hands together pleadingly. "Yes, Robin. Please. Stay to watch the movie of action with us! It would be most delightful!"

Forced to be a part of this plan, Raven stepped out beside Cyborg and Beast Boy, who looked at her expectantly. "What they said."

Robin frowned, a sense of guilt rising in his heart. "Look, you guys. I really appreciate you trying to include me, but I really need some time to myself." At least part of that statement was true.

"But you have spent the times to yourself in your room. Perhaps, it is time to take a break. Don't you wish to-"

"Sorry, Starfire. I can't," Robin said, making his exit around her.

Quirking a brow, Raven tried in her dull, monotone voice. "Are you sure you're...?"

"I'm fine," Robin said unconvincingly, and before anyone could stop him, he left the common's room.

Sigh.

Robin and his stubbornness.

. . .

"I do not understand." Starfire, clearly the most concerned, was the first to break the silence. "Why has Robin been acting so differently? It is unlike him to behave in this way."

"I know, Star," Cyborg said sympathetically. "But Robin is just a reserved kind of guy. He always does this from time to time...but I'm not sure why he's pushing himself harder than usual. He has no reason to."

"There must be a reason," Starfire said.

"Like what? It's not like we've been fighting Slade anyway. Can't he ever take a break?" Beast Boy whined, crossing his arms.

"I don't think this is about Slade, but he has been acting differently..." Raven's dry voice broke in.

"We must find out the cause of his strange behavior!" Starfire said forcefully.

"I don't think we should get involved," Raven said.

"But we must find the cause!" Starfire raised her voice little by little. "Robin would not miss the movies we had prior planning to view, and he would not miss-"

"Raven's right," Cyborg interrupted. "We shouldn't get involved."

"Then how must we find out about Robin?" Starfire asked.

"I know! We should pull a prank on him. It is April Fool's Day after all!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

Cyborg and Raven looked at him as if this was this stupidest idea he's ever thought up. Leaving Starfire with a blank stare.

"What is this 'April Fool's Day' you speak of?" she asked.

"An excuse for Beast Boy to act like a greater idiot," Raven remarked.

Beast Boy shot her a look, feeling degraded. "It's only the best day of the whole year!" he corrected her.

Cyborg stopped laughing enough to say, "I think we should just give the guy his privacy." -

"I still believe we should make sure he is feeling well. We cannot pretend he is not acting strangely to our requests," Starfire countered.

"Yeah, that's how we'll figure it out! All we have to do is..." Beast Boy explained the prank to them like a game plan. The other titans (excluding Starfire) were wary about this, but Beast Boy refused to give up this master prank of his. This would work, he assured them (And if Robin would yell at them for it, he'd eventually forgive them.)

"Besides, what else could go wrong?"

. . .

Cyborg was still contemplating over whether this 'prank' was such a good idea.

Raven not even participating in the prank.

Starfire consumed with hope that Robin would miraculously turn to normal as a result of this prank.

And Beast Boy was ready.

Ready to say,

"SURPRISE!"

When Beast Boy barged in the room with his highly equipped mustard gun, it was quiet. Too quiet. Something was up. Something was...

Ew.

Beast Boy's prankster face morphed into a look somewhere between mortified and disheveled as he took in the sight before him. Mask-less Robin and Slade on a bed together. Not just any bed. Robin's bed...

Their lips were a centimeter away from touching each other's.

They were about to kiss.

Beast Boy's eye twitched unnervingly...and then, they actually kissed.

"Gah!" was the only intelligeble sound Beast Boy made before he fainted.

Without even hearing Beast Boy's loud thud on the floor, Starfire and Cyborg stared wide-eyed at the pair. Eyes buldging from their sockets. They could never look at Robin the same after this nor Slade.

They were forever to be scarred.

Their somewhat processed thoughts explained it all.

Beast Boy, who was still unconscious:

Starfire, the most angered (especially when it comes to Robin): _HOW DARE SLADE STEAL MY ROBIN? _

Cyborg, who had at least half his sanity left: _What the heck is Slade doing here with Robin? And what on earth is Robin doing kissing the man? How does Robin even kiss someone old...and MALE?_

And then Slade: _Damn it, my identity is revealed. Damn Robin never listened to me when I knew we should have done some prior planning...in case something like _this _were to happen..._

And Robin thinking close to the same thing.

Appearing unimitated as usual with his mask quickly put back on, he said to 'lighten the mood', "Oh, please. You can't tell me it wasn't obvious. Robin was on my side the whole time. It's a pity you fell for it. I guess that's what friends do, but Robin doesn't need them. He only needs me."

If there was anything else that temporarily clouded the terribly awkward silence, it was Slade's smoke bomb. But that didn't conceal the fact that Robin was in big trouble. In a flash of a second, Slade was gone. And Robin was left with the Titans and their anger...which was gradually increasing. One more than the other.

"Robin, why- how- what- when?" Starfire spluttered out.

By the time Robin put on his mask, Starfire looked like she wanted to kill him.

Robin sank into the floor and would rather be killed at this point. He, Boy Blunder, was trained under the wing of Batman; he knew how to hide things, especially this! Him, Slade! How could have been so clueless?! (And how could the Titans ever have been so clueless?)

Robin was desperately searching for an answer, an answer only he could give them. He needed an explanation big time.

"This isn't what it looked like! Slade is lying! Those nanoscopic probes embedded into your bloodstreams before when I was Slade's apprentice- they are still inside of you! I had to...kiss him-" Robin turned unbearably red in the face- "I didn't have a choice!"

The silence for Robin was truly unbearable.

"Yeah, right. I'm not buying into that story," Cyborg snapped.

"How could you do this, Robin?" Starfire surprised him with her soft, whimpering, I'm-actually-not-going-to-kill-you side.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Starfire," Robin trailed off as he watched Starfire dash out the room, crying.

And there Robin was, left with an overly pissed Cyborg and a passed out, helpless Beast Boy. Robin would have preferred it the other way around. On second thought, maybe not.

"No, there's no sorry. Robin, how could you deceive us like that? This whole time you were on Slade's side, and we didn't even know? How does a leader of our team even do that? We've been fighting Slade. He was our enemy...and so are you now. And I say if we can't catch Slade, we'll just have to catch you." Then, Cyborg went dead silent. Seeing Robin hurt Starfire's feelings especially drove Cyborg over the edge.

There was no bail out for Robin. He was jail bait...until Raven showed up, serving a minor distraction on Cyborg's part. She studied the scene carefully, her assumptions from the beginning now turning into a nice, solid conclusion.

"I knew it. I knew Slade was more than just research to Robin."

**Yes...as you can see...I am a SladexRobin fan. My inspiration for this came from Nemesis by DepthsofPassion, and if you have not read this, please do! Even if you're not a Sladin/Yaoi lover, you will love it. **


End file.
